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Re: Meeting GOD via the enneagram

Re: Meeting GOD via the enneagram

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Posted by Hal on May 03, 1999 at 09:40:54:

In Reply to: Re: Meeting GOD via the enneagram posted by Dafyd on April 29, 1999 at 20:13:51:

> > After a discusiion with a professor of Religion I came to an idea about how the enneagram describes the 3 main ways that religion and phiosophy approach God.

> > Thinking Center people (5/6/7) attempt to find or discover the God of the Philosophers. The objective Creative force (7), the Laws of Nature (6), and/or the mathematics of creation and emanation (5).

> > Feeling Center people (2/3/4) attempt to meet God as in relationship. Through service in the world(2), in their works (3), or through the sacred in the inner wellsprings of one's self (4).

> > Instinctive center people (8/9/1) attempt to influence God. Through force of will (8), union (9), or perfect execution of prescribed duties (1).

> In Enneagram II, Rohr gives a list of false, or perhaps partial images of God that each type is liable to have.

> One: Nobodaddy - the Old Man in the Sky who forbids things.
> Two: The Sacred Heart - God who cares for people (but not enough as the Two has to help.)
> Three: The Continuous Creator. As with Two, God doesn't work hard enough and the Three has to help.
> Four: The Infinite Void. God is felt as an absence, or as a disturbing presence who cannot be grasped.
> Five: The god of the Philosophers - the Unmoved Mover.
> Six: The Saviour God. Jesus died to save you. Who from? Well, let's not ask too closely about God the Father...
> Seven: God is Energy.
> Eight: The Lord of Battles.
> Nine: God present in everything.

> That's what Rohr says anyway. It sounds just a little too schematic to be true.

> My personal experience: I am moved mostly by images of God who acts or intervenes, or who is with people in their
> suffering. However, I am moved by intellectual images of these things - by reading about them in theology or
> poetry (and it had better be intellectually rigourous theology without sentimentality). So in a sense one could
> say I try to find an intellectual God. But a purely mathematical idea with no involvement with the world has
> no interest for me.

> Dafyd (a Five)

Schematic, perhaps, but what it says about how 4's relate to God really hits home for me.

- Hal -

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> > > After a discusiion with a professor of Religion I came to an idea about how the enneagram describes the 3 main ways that religion and phiosophy approach God. > > > Thinking Center people (5/6/7) attempt to find or discover the God of the Philosophers. The objective Creative force (7), the Laws of Nature (6), and/or the mathematics of creation and emanation (5). > > > Feeling Center people (2/3/4) attempt to meet God as in relationship. Through service in the world(2), in their works (3), or through the sacred in the inner wellsprings of one's self (4). > > > Instinctive center people (8/9/1) attempt to influence God. Through force of will (8), union (9), or perfect execution of prescribed duties (1). > > In Enneagram II, Rohr gives a list of false, or perhaps partial images of God that each type is liable to have. > > One: Nobodaddy - the Old Man in the Sky who forbids things. > > Two: The Sacred Heart - God who cares for people (but not enough as the Two has to help.) > > Three: The Continuous Creator. As with Two, God doesn't work hard enough and the Three has to help. > > Four: The Infinite Void. God is felt as an absence, or as a disturbing presence who cannot be grasped. > > Five: The god of the Philosophers - the Unmoved Mover. > > Six: The Saviour God. Jesus died to save you. Who from? Well, let's not ask too closely about God the Father... > > Seven: God is Energy. > > Eight: The Lord of Battles. > > Nine: God present in everything. > > That's what Rohr says anyway. It sounds just a little too schematic to be true. > > My personal experience: I am moved mostly by images of God who acts or intervenes, or who is with people in their > > suffering. However, I am moved by intellectual images of these things - by reading about them in theology or > > poetry (and it had better be intellectually rigourous theology without sentimentality). So in a sense one could > > say I try to find an intellectual God. But a purely mathematical idea with no involvement with the world has > > no interest for me. > > Dafyd (a Five) > Schematic, perhaps, but what it says about how 4's relate to God really hits home for me. > - Hal -

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